NOVEL NEXT Chapter 43. Oopsies (> , <)/
After a day of careful experimentation which consumes a lot of potions, Jonas's vitality finally disappeared.
As for Lacius, he has finally got a clue regarding the difference between someone at Level 1 and Level 2.
Yet, a mere clue isn't enough for him to create a method that will allow someone to reach Level 2 and increase his lifespan.
Without any more Peak Level 1 blessed he could use as experimental material, Lacius has become desperate.
The people he has sent to train still require a few more years before they can reach his current level. At that time, even if he hasn't died. Hars definitely can't last for that long.
After losing his family to Gratian and losing Yasu who's akin to his father figure, Lacius won't sit silently and watch his only remaining friend and relative die.
He has vowed to make sure Hars won't die. He also vowed to always live and continue his relative's existence, even if it's only in his memory. Even if he dies, he must make sure his name and the name of everyone he cared for shall be remembered for eternity.
He won't end up like Gratian who has lost under the unforgiving power of time!
***
While being burdened with heavy thoughts and spending several sleepless nights. Lacius made up his mind and prepared a plan which he immediately executed.
First, he sent several messengers to Yuma in the span of a month. The messages mainly talked about how he needed Yuma's help and hoped he could pay a visit to Winter City. But, all of the messages are being ignored by Yuma.
When he failed to get any reply, Lacius gathered all important people from the kingdom into his throne room.
Lacius commanded, "Enter a state of war preparation and gather the army within a month! Make the preparation just like when we're going to fight against the demon king!"
Hearing his command, some people became dissatisfied, while most were still unsure why Lacius suddenly ordered such a thing.
Yet, the mention of the demon king is enough to silence most of them.
Everyone who has survived that time still remembers the chaos that has ensued due to the existence of demons and demon king. Even those young nobles that never experienced that time fell silent and followed the order.
When everyone left the throne room to prepare for a war, Hars asked. "Your Majesty, did you receive a revelation from the creator?"
"No, I don't." Lacius said while shaking his head, "Also, there's no need to call me Your Majesty when no one is here."
Hars nodded and asked, "Then, did you sense the birth of the demon king from a report?"
"There is no demon king." Lacius sighed, "This time, we'll target the hero."
Hars frowned, "Won't that anger the creator? Previously, you have said that Yuma is extremely favored by the creator. Although I've never seen the creator, they must be extremely powerful for you to be wary of them."
Lacius tightly grabbed the armrest of his chair, "I am also desperate! Capturing Yuma will be our last chance for success. We're too old and don't have much time left!"
"I can only bet that the creator's favor on Yuma has waned after the demon king has finally been defeated and Yuma fell into degeneracy."
He smiled wryly, "I just hope the creator won't suddenly kill me even if I took the wrong bet."
Lacius then closed his eyes, "The creator can pull me high above the sky, and even travel to another world where the hero came from. Killing me will definitely be easy for them."
After mumbling, Lacius fell asleep while Hars stood silently and protected him.
***
Since the time Lacius released that order, he has been staying in the throne room, waiting for a warning or punishment sent by the creator.
Yet, even after the war preparation has been completed, Lacius hasn't received any warning.
This made him think of the creator's silence as agreement.
With everyone's full support, the war preparation has been completed in slightly less than a month.
Standing in front of a thousand-strong army, Lacius led them to gather on the outskirts of Winter City.
Under the pretext of training before the real battle, he ordered the army to prepare for combat while slowly leading them toward the place where Yuma lived.
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The army keeps on marching following the small intercity road for a few kilometers.
When they were close to Yuma's place, Lacius ordered them to take a turn and entered an area that was blocked by dense forest.
Some of the army's officers sensed something was wrong with the direction of their march and reminded Lacius, "Your Majesty, if we keep on following this path, we'll reach the hero's retirement place."
Lacius stared at them and replied, "Indeed. This time, our enemy is the previous hero. I want you to capture him or at least leave an intact corpse no matter what!"
Those officers became shocked upon hearing Lacius's real goal. One of them can't help but ask, "What about the demon king? Didn't we prepare this army to deal with the demon king?"
The other officers looked at the person asking that question like he was a moron. Meanwhile, Lacius just stared at that man for a moment.
Feeling the surrounding people's weird gaze, that officer quickly fell silent and slightly retreated.
After Lacius showed his real goal to the officers, the army kept marching without missing a beat.
It must be said that the money Lacius has spent to raise the military didn't come to waste.
Disregarding their shock and sudden change in target, those officers still decided to unilaterally follow Lacius's command.
As they keep on marching closer and closer to Yuma's house, their trace can't be hidden from Yuma anymore.
While Yuma happily tended the field with his wives and occasionally watched his children playing in the field. He saw several soldiers that had come forward from the wilderness and cut open a section of the forest near his house.
As more and more soldiers began to clear the wilderness around his fields, Yuma quickly sensed something wrong.
"Amelia, go bring the others and the kids to hide in the house." After telling one of his wives to gather the childrens and retreat back to the house, Yuma stood amidst the field while occasionally touching the sword Cedric had given him.
Soon, Yuma could see a huge army and a familiar face riding on a horse while hiding in the middle of the army.
"Lacius! What are you doing here?!" Yuma shouted at Lacius who stood amidst the soldiers.
Lacius immediately responded. "I need you, I want you to come with me."
"I don't care what you want to do, leave me out of it, I am already retired. Also, I am not interested in men, especially an old guy with one foot in the coffin like you. Maybe if you're a sexy woman or even a cute femboy, I'll be willing to consider whatever your offer is." Yuma answered while grabbing the sword on his waist even tighter.
Yuma has heard about Tsukiko's death. So, when he saw Lacius bringing an army to his house, he got an extremely bad feeling.
He is sure he hasn't caused anything that will place him on Lacius's hit list. He has even decided to start a life of exile and stay in the wilderness to make sure that Lacius, as the ruler of the Sacred Kingdom, won't see him as a threat.
While Yuma is thinking about the reason for Lacius's visit. Lacius's sight is focused on the house Yuma has created.
This time, Lacius is going to do anything to successfully capture Yuma alive. He won't let him die easily like Tsukiko.
After preparing a basic plan, Lacius commanded the army to attack Yuma.
Under the control of several officers, the army started their attack on Yuma.
From ranged blessed attack, to a melee battle, they tried their best to defeat Yuma while making sure he wasn't too heavily injured. But, they are simply underestimating the retired hero.
When he saw the army had attacked, Yuma swung his sword and summoned a burning sword that blocked the ranged attack from the army's blessed.
The ice element attacks immediately melted, Water element attacks immediately turned into vapor, earth spikes quickly chip and crack, while winds and fires are devoured by an even bigger flame that Yuma summoned.
Only lightning, light, and some rare element can force Lacius to evade.
Meanwhile, at the rear of the army, Lacius watched the fight while listening to Yuma's curses as he fought.
Seeing the army's casualties, Lacius didn't bat an eye and simply followed the plan he had just prepared.
He led several high level blessed and targeted the house where Yuma's wives and children were currently hiding.
Yuma saw it and tried to stop them. But, the army's attack quickly rose in intensity.
After some difficulties and receiving several light injuries, he barely escaped from the army's entanglement and dashed toward his house.
When he arrived, Yuma saw all of his wives and children being imprisoned by an earth ball Lacius had summoned.
Under Lacius and several other earth element blessed's control, the earth ball slowly rolled outside of his house.
From inside the ball, Yuma can hear several faint familiar voices. Those are the voices of his children and wives.
Although Yuma isn't sure what Lacius is planning by capturing his family, he immediately gets into action and prepares to release them first.
He utterly despised Lacius's dirty means and became even more unwilling to cooperate with whatever he planned.
Ignoring Lacius and several other blessed, Yuma observed the thickness of the earth wall and calculated the strength required to break it without injuring his family.
With a slash of his sword, a sea of flames appeared.
The flames immediately destroyed the house he had built while also injuring most of the blessed Lacius led.
Two of the blessed have subconsciously released a shield made of water, which immediately vaporized after being created. The vapor caused the messy situation to turn even more chaotic due to the mist that blocked eyesight.
Meanwhile, Yuma focused his sight on the earth ball.
After that slash of his, a hole has opened on the massive earth ball.
He saw three people who had been captured quickly take advantage of the chaos and mists that blocked the view to escape far away.
When his other wives and children prepared to escape, Yuma saw the hole quickly recovered.
On the side, Lacius and several earth element blessed have activated their power to fix the ball that imprisoned Yuma's family.
Yuma saw the ball that had been repaired and became irritated.
He activated his ability once more and used most of his remaining energy to summon a massive flame that was attached to his sword.
With a slash of his sword, an even bigger sea of flame from before appeared.
The moment that slash is released, the surrounding area is filled with scorching heat and charred smell.
When he saw that, Yuma knew he had messed up and released too much power.
He tried his best to retrieve the power. But, just like an arrow that has been shot, the flames ignored Yuma's attempt and directly caused the earth ball to explode.
With the earth ball's explosion, the smell of charred meat filled the area. Torn limbs and charred skulls flew around the place, as blood rained down and dyed the surrounding people with dark red color.
Just like the calm before a storm. Everyone silently watched the place where the earth ball that imprisoned Yuma's family previously was while in shock.
The small pit where the earth ball previously stood seems to have become the center of the world.